What to Do With Summer Cucumbers Surplus.

This summer we started to grow vegetables in polytonal. we end up with a lot of cucumbers.

It is not as obvious as it sound. We live in England and we never had a grate success in growing cucumbers outdoor. Alas, great success in the polytonal.

The problem is that the shelve life of cucumbers is very short and you can’t keep them more than few days and there is so much you can eat.

So the obvious solution is to pickled them. That way, you can keep them for a long time. If you sterilised the container and the preparation appliances, you can keep it in your pantry. I never bother to do that, so I keep them in the fridge. That way you can keep the pickled cucumbers for couple of month no problem.

One last thing before I tell you how I pickled my cucumbers, I want to point out that pickling is only one option and there are probably some other method to preserve cucumbers. One option that I can think of is to make jam. My daughter made cucumbers jam the other day and its turn out not so bad.

Step 1: Thing That You Need.

Measuring jag.

Pickling jar.

Young fresh, up to eleven centimetres long cucumbers.

Few garlic cloves.

Dry hot chilli.

Handful of fresh dill.

1 teaspoon black peppercorn.

1 teaspoon coriander seeds.

1 teaspoon yellow mustard seeds.

1 ¾ tablespoon (and be generous about it) salt.

Cling film.

Aluminium foil.

Sunlight.

Step 2: Preparation.

First choose very fresh and young cucumbers. If you use old ones the ratio between pips and flesh is not good and pickled cucumber will end up soft and squidgy, i.e. not pleasant to eat.

Wash the cucumbers and place them in the pickling jar. Add the garlic (The how much is up to you, according to how garlicky you want the pickles to taste. I use three or four), the chilli and the dry spices. Put the dill at the top.

Take peace of the aluminium foil, fold it few time to the
size of the top of t he jar. Cover the top of the cucumbers with it. it will prevent the cucumbers and the spices to float.

Step 3: Some More Preparation

Mix the salt in the measuring jag, together with half a litter
of lukewarm water, warm just enough to help to dissolve the salt in the water.

Pure the salty water into the jar, all the way to the jar brim.
Leave no gap for air to be trapped, remember oxygen and fresh food is not the best combination.

Cover it loosely with the cling film. Put it on a plate to prevent liquid spillage during to fermentation process chemistry-of-pickling

Leave it in a sunny spot but not in overly direct sun light.

Remember I live in the UK, so if you live in hotter country, find more shady spot. Leave it for few days until the cucumber change colour and the fermentation stop (for me its usually three to four days).

Remove the cling film and cover the jar with more permanent lid. Store it in the fridge. If all is well and you didn’t burn it in too intense sun light, it will keep for several weeks.